Dromedary camels only have one hump and the other type of camel is the Bactrian camel, which has two humps.
Habitat: North Africa, East Africa, India, Arabian countries in desert areas (see map). In these desert areas, the annual rainfall is less than 250 millimetres and the average temperature is 32 degree Celsius. Because dromedary camels evolved from semi-desert conditions, they have developed complicated physiological adaptations of being able to survive in the desert without consuming water or food for a long period of time and are known as the “ship of the desert” for being able to help humans carry their stuff and walking for very long distances. This allows them to survive through heat of the day and cold of the night with lack of food and dehydration. Dromedary camels gain their water from desert vegetations and 40 percent of their body weight is water. Currently there are no wild dromedary camels anymore. All of the living dromedary camels are domestic.
Physiological Adaptation Dromedary camels have the ability to fluctuate their body temperature from 34°C to 41.7°C throughout the day so that they would not feel very hot during the day (which avoids sweating), and keep warm during the cold nights of the desert. Structural Adaptation 1
The lips of dromedary camels are thick as their food supply is the vegetation in the desert. Desert plants are coarse and thorny, so the thick lips of the dromedaries can prevent themselves from getting hurt by eating them and being able to eat them to survive.
Structural Adaptation 2
Their broad feet are like foot pads with 2 toes on undivided soles, which were adapted for walking on the sand easily as it does not sink into the sand. They have thick calluses on their knees and chest, which grows on the camels when they reach 5 years of age, makes a good protection for them against the heat of the sand, and supports the body weight when they kneel, rest or rise. Behavioural Adaptation 1 To conserve water, dromedaries produce dry faeces and little urine, which is as thick as syrup and contains twice the salt content as of sea water and reduce the amount of sweat during hot weather. To replenish their loss of water in their bodies, they will drink up to 57 litres at a time, whenever there is water, no matter is it salt water or fresh water. Behavioural Adaptation 2 To survive the hot daytimes of the desert, camels press against each other so that they can avoid the excess heat of the surrounding environment that they are not able to endure. They are able to do this as their body temperature is lower than that of the air temperature.
Future Animal%20(Camelus%20Domestique)
Dromedary Camel (camelus dromedarius)
Dromedary camels only have one hump and the other type of camel is the Bactrian camel, which has two humps.
Habitat: North Africa, East Africa, India, Arabian countries in desert areas (see map). In these desert areas, the annual rainfall is less than 250 millimetres and the average temperature is 32 degree Celsius. Because dromedary camels evolved from semi-desert conditions, they have developed complicated physiological adaptations of being able to survive in the desert without consuming water or food for a long period of time and are known as the “ship of the desert” for being able to help humans carry their stuff and walking for very long distances. This allows them to survive through heat of the day and cold of the night with lack of food and dehydration. Dromedary camels gain their water from desert vegetations and 40 percent of their body weight is water. Currently there are no wild dromedary camels anymore. All of the living dromedary camels are domestic.
Physiological Adaptation
Dromedary camels have the ability to fluctuate their body temperature from 34°C to 41.7°C throughout the day so that they would not feel very hot during the day (which avoids sweating), and keep warm during the cold nights of the desert.
Structural Adaptation 1
The lips of dromedary camels are thick as their food supply is the vegetation in the desert. Desert plants are coarse and thorny, so the thick lips of the dromedaries can prevent themselves from getting hurt by eating them and being able to eat them to survive.
Structural Adaptation 2
Their broad feet are like foot pads with 2 toes on undivided soles, which were adapted for walking on the sand easily as it does not sink into the sand. They have thick calluses on their knees and chest, which grows on the camels when they reach 5 years of age, makes a good protection for them against the heat of the sand, and supports the body weight when they kneel, rest or rise.
Behavioural Adaptation 1
To conserve water, dromedaries produce dry faeces and little urine, which is as thick as syrup and contains twice the salt content as of sea water and reduce the amount of sweat during hot weather. To replenish their loss of water in their bodies, they will drink up to 57 litres at a time, whenever there is water, no matter is it salt water or fresh water.
Behavioural Adaptation 2
To survive the hot daytimes of the desert, camels press against each other so that they can avoid the excess heat of the surrounding environment that they are not able to endure. They are able to do this as their body temperature is lower than that of the air temperature.
Reference:
ETCSA, . (2001). Camel evolution. Retrieved in July 21, from http://docs.google.com/viewer?a=v&q=cache:L8HnmJffIQoJ:www.etcsa.org/news/etcsa2001-02.pdf+evolution+of+camel&hl=en&gl=hk&pid=bl&srcid=ADGEESi37dTh5du78rEhXLK3cDtb2bfp8p5OJx5Nprm_afldePeivGSqsTc31IXAZcN_pT2-c6h-pdpzOQgiXPGIRGbZEKKP1F0_HRggDe_EwoJMioDFydz1yNy7vdC58eevOYxY9ofj&sig=AHIEtbRucfUYV9i6Pm9lDfJGohFmKVpNXg
Huffman, B. (2004, March 23). Camelus dromedarius . Retrieved in June 20, 2010, from http://www.ultimateungulate.com/artiodactyla/camelus_dromedarius.html
Montes, M. (2006, August 18). All about Camels. Retrieved in June 20, 2010, from http://www.marisamontes.com/all_about_camels.htm